


Drowning in Colour

by darkness_prince_dan



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Boarding School, M/M, Phan AU, Phan Fluff, Phanfiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-04
Updated: 2015-08-04
Packaged: 2018-04-12 23:43:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4499355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkness_prince_dan/pseuds/darkness_prince_dan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dan’s suffering from the lack of ideas for his art project but a more pressing matter to him is: how to make his best friend fall in love with him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Drowning in Colour

Sapphire Fire’s School of Elemental Arts is a modern edifice located in the middle of nowhere. The main building is a three story tall circular construction made out of glass and steel. Here the conventional and not so much subjects are taught on the second and first floors while the ground floor is dedicated to the teachers’ offices, cafeteria, library and the like. In the middle the building has an outdoors based training arena for students to further develop their bending skills. It’s also covered by a dome so it would be functional all year round. Surrounding the main structure are three petal shaped buildings, once again mostly made out of steel and glass. These contain the dorms of the students and staff. The grounds are also well looked after with plenty of gardens and orchards inviting for a pleasant stroll. Overall the school looks like a blossoming flower whose petals change colour depending on the position of the sun. During high noon the windows of the dorms reflect the blue skies, at dawn they’re mostly dyed in golds and oranges, and when the sun sets the petals adopt the pink and purple hues.

The boarding school has been Dan’s home for two years and he’s been loving every minute of it. He’s found real friends here and he’s no longer the ‘art freak’ since everyone here is passionate about art. They all use their bending to create something remarkable and unique rather than attending a military academy to be trained in combat skills. The only downside is the conventional subjects. Dan’s not exactly bad at those but they’re horribly boring and he spends half his time daydreaming anyway so he doesn’t see the point in studying them. But other than that his life here has been great.

They’re having a training session one afternoon and Dan’s slacking off, as usual. He’s sitting under some tree in the corner of the training arena, an album on his lap, his tongue sticks out of the corner of his mouth as he’s all focused on drawing.

“What you doing?” A too familiar voice asks and Dan yelps, hugging the album to his chest.

“Phil, we’ve talked about this, you can’t just sneak up on people like that,” the brunet admonishes the airbender who’s hanging upside down from a tree branch just above Dan.

“You never show me your drawings,” the other complains, his fringe flops in the wind and he pokes at Dan’s cheeks, the brunet waves his hands off. “You leave me no other choice but to sneak up on you.”

Dan’s eyes widen and he grips the album tighter. If his friend saw those drawings, there’d be too much to explaining and apologising to do.

“You haven’t seen it, though, have you?” Dan asks cautiously.

“No,” Phil flails his hands, trying to keep his balance as he makes to grab for the album. “But now I  _really_  need to see what’s in there.”

“Some things must remain secret, Phil,” Dan announces haughtily as he stands up. All his arrogance disappears, however, when he trips over a root, papers flying everywhere, and he lands face first on the grass, eating dirt as an early lunch.

“Oh my god, are you okay?” Phil near shouts at once but can’t stop the escaping giggles. This hinders his ability to focus and he flops down from the tree with an indignant screech. Now Dan’s the one who can’t control his laughter as he's standing up, swiping blades of grass off his clothes. “It’s not funny,” the airbender whines, pouting. “I really hurt my bum,” he stands up, rubbing his behind.

“Want me to kiss it better?” Dan wiggles his eyebrows and Phil rolls his eyes.

The black-haired boy bends down plucking a sheet of paper from the pile that Dan’s trying to collect as quickly as possible. The brunet reacts faster than he’s ever reacted even to a fireball coming for his face. He violently yanks the paper from his friend’s grasp and sets it alight immediately.

“Are you serious?” Phil crosses his arms and lifts an eyebrow.

Only ashes float in the air of what seconds ago was a drawing of Dan’s in which he in great detail depicted a make-out scene between him and the boy who’s standing in front of him. Drawing is the only way Dan can relieve his frustration with being head over heels in love with his best friend and he’s not about to let said friend find out about his hobby and ruin it for him.

“Shouldn’t you be meditating or something right now?” Dan changes the subject and glances at the other airbenders, sitting quietly and concentrating on their breathing.

“I’ll find out your secret one day, Dan Howell,” Phil mock threatens, eyes narrowed at the firebender as he’s walking back to his training session. “Mark my words!” He exclaims, pointing to the sky, trying to make it dramatic and failing since he yelps when an air blast nearly knocks him to the ground. He manages to not face-plant by creating a gust of wind that stands him right back up. Phil turns around, glaring at the other airbenders but they’re all stoic and completely immersed in meditation.

“Seems like that’s not the only secret for you to figure out, Sherlock,” Dan calls and Phil just sticks his tongue out at him as he re-joins the group.

The brunet huffs, sitting back down. Being in love with your best friend is extremely tiring. Dan’s not even sure when it all started. He and Phil met on the first day of their first year here and they’ve been inseparable since. Sometime during those two years the friendship turned to romantic attraction on Dan’s end and his every thought became consumed with plans of how to make Phil fall for him in the same way. He’s not figured that one out yet.

Thus the firebender spends his training sessions intently staring at his friend, engraving his features into his brain: the sharp line of his jaw, the arched shape of his nose, the high cheekbones, the marble skin, the pink plush lips, the broad shoulders. Dan thinks it’s more interesting than refining his firebending skills he could use for his art project, which, by the way, is still a mystery to Dan since he can’t be bothered to think about such menial things as deciding on what to do for the most important artwork of this semester. He’s more inclined to torture himself over his unrequited love.

***

Early autumn evenings in their middle of nowhere artsy school are one of Dan’s favourite things. Especially when he gets to spend those evenings with the group of his friends by one of the lakes on the grounds of the school. The air is still warm enough to not need a sweater, the trees have just started to change their colours, the breeze caresses his skin softly and brings the scent of resin from the nearby pines, and water sparkles in a myriad of hues, reflecting the setting sun.

Dan’s got his eyes closed. He is listening to Phil telling Opal about his summer, to Paul and Esther splashing in the water, trying out their new bending techniques, to the whisper of leaves on the branches of the oak tree shielding them. It’s total bliss as Phil absentmindedly combs through Dan’s hair since the firebender laid his head on the other’s lap, and Dan can pretend they’re actually a couple.

“You look cute together,” Opal comments. She joined their group a week ago and such a statement isn’t new to Dan and Phil coming from a person who doesn’t know them, they’re rather used to being confused with being a couple since they do like showing physical affection. Dan actually finds Phil’s touches extremely calming; it’s become a habit for him to just hold Phil’s hand if he’s feeling anxious or hug him before doing a presentation.

“Thanks, we get that a lot,” is Phil’s answer, and Dan’s quite sure he must be joking because their usual response is ‘oh, we’re not together, we’re just really close friends’ but Phil’s tone doesn’t lend to Dan’s theory. So the brunet wants to open his eyes and see the expression on the airbender’s face. However, if Phil thinks Dan’s asleep and it’s his sincere answer then the firebender doesn’t want to ruin such a monumental moment by making Phil retract his statement. Thus Dan employs all his willpower and stays as quiet as he possibly can while his heart beats a fast paced rhythm.

“Aren’t your parents against it though?” The girl questions. “I mean, he’s a firebender and you’re an airbender…” She trails off.

“My parents actually really like Dan,” Phil brushes Dan’s fringe off his forehead and lets his fingers ghost over his cheek; Dan has to really try not to smile at the action. “He spent half the summer with us. You have no idea how annoying it is having a firebender around when a heat wave hits. I’m nearly dying lying on my floor and he wants to go for a run cos ‘the weather’s so great, I don’t know why you’re complaining’,” he imitates Dan using a shrill tone and the brunet wants to smack him but refrains, keeping his composure.

“Wow, your folks sound great,” Opal sighs. “Mine would probably throw me out of the house if I dated anyone other than an airbender.”

Phil doesn’t get a chance to console the girl as a wave of cold water hits them all three. Dan sits up, gasping and shivering. He glares at the two waterbenders in the lake who ruined his one and only chance to hear Phil make stuff up about their non-existent relationship.

“We’re so sorry,” Esther says sheepishly. “We didn’t think the tide would be that big.”

“You have to admit, that was hilarious,” Paul crosses his arms with a smirk.

“You wanna see hilarious?” Dan asks standing up, a fireball in his left palm.

“Bring it on, Howell,” the waterbender assumes a fighting pose and Esther gets out of their way.

There’s nothing really malicious in their mock fight. Admittedly, Paul’s a lot better at it since his dad is a military man who uses his bending in combat and has taught his son because he thought the boy would take after him. As it happens, Paul got into an art school much to the chagrin of his father. However, he’s still got the fighting skills and very little self-control so he’s more brash than necessary, Dan notices while barely avoiding ice spikes hitting him in the chest. It’s becoming less fun and pretend every second.

The firebender doesn’t even have a chance to get close to his opponent as water tendrils wrap around his leg and drag him underwater. Dan’s cheek drags across the rocks on the bottom of the lake whilst he tries to not breathe in water and die or something as ridiculous. The grip releases soon and Dan swims to the surface, breathing heavily. He’s in the middle of the lake and the warmth has already left his body so he quickly starts swimming back. Back on land, Phil’s shouting at Paul and shoving him, telling him that he’s too aggressive, that Dan’s never trained in combat, and that what he did was reckless and dangerous.

“See, he’s fine,” Paul says, pointing at Dan who’s lying on the shore staring at the sky with burning lungs and cold seeping into his body.

“Dan!” Phil’s kneeling next to him, cradling Dan’s cheeks, stroking over the bruised cheekbone with his thumb.

“It’s alright,” the brunet murmurs sitting up. His meditation sessions come in handy as he warms his body from the inside using his breathing.

“You’re a jerk,” Esther exclaims behind them. “You could’ve killed him.”

Opal stays silent on this matter. Probably thinking she’s got no voice yet as she’s new to the group.

“Come on, I’ll get you back to your room,” Phil says, helping Dan stand up.

“Dude, you know I didn’t mean it,” Paul’s biting his lip and rubbing at his neck as they’re passing him. “It just got a bit out of hand.”

Dan wants to say that it’s alright and he started it anyway but Phil beats him to it.

“Sod off, Paul,” he near growls at him, pulling Dan closer to himself.

The brunet has to hide his smile. It really wasn’t that big of a deal and he’s already feeling fine and warm. However, seeing this protective side of Phil is rather interesting and Paul can soldier through a bit of Phil hate, so Dan shudders on purpose, burrowing his face in the crook of Phil’s neck as the airbender angrily mumbles all the way to the dorms.

***

At lunch the next day Phil’s still seething, throwing death glares Paul’s way, interrupting him every time the waterbender wants to join in the conversation. It’s quite amusing since Dan never thought of Phil as one to keep grudges and show it in such a way. Phil’s also fussing over Dan which the brunet doesn’t mind much. It’s really nice to get extra attention from the airbender. This might actually turn out helping Dan with his plan of making Phil fall for him.

They have Geography afterwards. As long as it’s quiet, the teacher isn’t paying much attention to what the students are doing when they’re supposed to be involved in group projects. Dan and Phil, like everyone else, are sitting on a desk: legs crossed, knees touching. The brunet’s clicking his fingers, making flames appear and disappear from his fingertips. Phil’s keeping an airplane afloat mid-air. It’s not particularly exciting but they’re all getting As as long as there’s order so no one’s complaining.

“Have you started the art project?” Dan asks, leaning his head on his hand.

“Yeah, it’s not going well, though,” Phil answers, following the plane with his eyes, his tongue sticks out in concentration. “And you?”

“Haven’t even a clue what I’m gonna do,” the brunet sighs and Phil laughs.

“It rhymes,” he says with a grin. Dan just shakes his head but he’s smiling too.

“It’s way easier for metalbenders or waterbenders,” Dan complains. “They can just create a statue and it’s done. What can I do?” He’s still clicking his fingers, watching the flames.

“You did pyrography last semester. You can do that again,” Phil suggests.

“Everyone’s doing pyrography,” Dan huffs. “I want something different, unique. It’s too difficult,” he whines, leaning his forehead on Phil’s shoulder. The plane flits to the ground as Phil pets Dan’s head.

“Try creating art out of air. Now  _that’s_  difficult,” he mumbles and Dan lifts his head feeling guilty.

“Sorry,” he chews on his lip. Phil strokes his bruised cheek.

“It’s alright,” he shrugs. “I’m just a bit annoyed that I can’t make what I want happen. I’ll figure it out.”

“What  _are_  you trying to do?” Dan wonders, now intrigued. He’s usually the first person Phil tells his project plans to. Not unless they’re a failure, of course.

“I’ll tell you if you show me one of those drawings,” Phil points to Dan’s backpack which has his drawing album inside.

“Alright, I’ll wait then,” the brunet smirks. He’s more impatient than Phil but for this he can make a sacrifice and wait till the end of the semester. Phil pouts, not happy with the answer.

***

The end of October comes quickly and Dan still has no ideas for his project and his plan to entice Phil hasn’t moved an inch since school year started. Huffing, he rolls over on Phil’s bed and stares at the ceiling. The airbender is sitting on the floor and making paper cranes for some reason. Dan doesn’t question it. For like five minutes.

“What are you gonna do with those?” The brunet asks, turning to lie on his stomach.

“What are you drawing in your album?” Phil asks not even looking at Dan, the crane in his hands is pastel pink.

“Fine,” Dan sulks. “Be that way,” he grumbles, rolling over again.

Phil’s got fairy lights on. It’s already dark outside, crickets are chirping in the moonlight. The lights illuminate the room in a soft orange; it looks warm. Dan turns his eyes to the wall and slowly sits up. Blues and reds and purples reflect on the white washed wall next to Phil’s bed. They shine and shimmer and Dan trails his eyes to colourful glass jars sitting on the bedside table, lights in front of them. And just like that Dan knows what to do.

“Where are you going?” Phil asks suddenly as the brunet stands up.

“Opal’s a genius in chemistry, right?” Dan responds with a question.

“Yeah, but I don’t see how that’s relevant to –” But Dan’s no longer listening to him as he runs out the door.

Phil doesn’t really see Dan for the upcoming week. They’re both busy with their projects and other assignments and chat only during meals. Finally, on Saturday Dan knocks on Phil’s door.

“I need you to come with me,” the brunet says, grabbing his hand without even waiting for an answer.

They go outside which is a violation of school rules since it’s past ten p.m. Not a soul is around and Dan’s leading Phil further from the comforting lights of their campus and into the eerily dark woods. Phil trips over something but manages to stay upright.

“This is a brilliant idea, Dan,” he mumbles. “Let’s go into the forest at night without a torch or anything.”

“Shh,” the firebender shushes the other and produces a flame in his palm. Phil’s still not exactly happy and he scoots closer to Dan when something rustles in the bushes.

The full moon reflects in the middle of the lake, the image contorting as the water is disturbed. Dan tells Phil to close his eyes when they’re standing under the oak. The airbender obliges.

“Alright,” Dan whispers after a moment. “Now you can look.”

Phil opens his eyes and they instantly widen. The world is drowning in colour. Candles are scattered all around, lanterns hang off the oak. They set the night alight in different hues. The grass is no longer just green; it’s navy blue and crimson red, it’s golden and orange, it’s pale lilac and rich vermillion. The oak, already dyed by Nature, assumes new shades: turquoise and lavender, jade and scarlet, cerise and auburn. They all crackle and sparkle, the flames not quite staying the same, fluttering and wavering.

“You’re doing this?” Phil turns to Dan who’s standing with his arms bent by the elbow, palms up, fingers trembling.

“I have to keep different flames at different temperatures,” he explains. “Opal helped to mix some of them up so they’d emit various colours, others depend on the heat.”

“That’s amazing,” Phil whispers in awe and looks around again.

Dan exhales slowly, lowering his hands. Most of the flames die quickly and only the yellows, oranges and reds are left behind.

“I’ve got something else for you,” the brunet says rather unsure. He takes out a paper from his back pocket and unfolds it. After staring at it for a few seconds and gnawing on his lip, he extends it to Phil. The drawing is made in pencil, it’s monochrome but even so Phil instantly gathers who are the two people locking lips on paper.

“The shading is really nice,” Phil says after a moment, lifting his eyes to meet Dan’s.

Dan purses his lips and lifts an eyebrow. He truly did not expect such a reaction.

“Yeah, I worked hard on that,” he nods his head. “Any other comments?”

“I’m taller than you so this is not actually accurate,” Phil continues nonchalant, studying the drawing further. Exasperated, Dan throws his hands in the air at that and Phil laughs. “Come here,” the airbender says, grabbing Dan’s jumper and pulling the boy to himself.

The brunet’s mood is remedied instantly as his lips touch Phil’s. It’s a bit clumsier, with more teeth clashing than he imagined their first kiss being, and they both giggle, pulling away. The second kiss follows instantly and it’s more of what Dan dreamed of. Phil’s hands are on Dan’s hips and Dan buries his fingers on Phil’s hair. It lasts for only a moment and forever at once. ‘I love yous’ are exchanged in breathless murmurs between sweet short kisses. The brunet’s grinning to himself as Phil pecks his forehead and cheeks.

“I thought you’d do this sooner,” Phil says. “I’ve been throwing clues that I feel the same all around.”

Dan pulls away, raising his eyebrows.

“Name one,” he asks incredulous, crossing his arms.

“The endless physical contact which was too subtle for you, apparently,” Phil rolls his eyes. “The thing I said to Opal by the lake that first week.”

“That was on purpose?” Dan near shouts in disbelief.

“Of course. I knew you weren’t asleep and I thought after that you’d really say something,” he explains.

“Why couldn’t  _you_  say something?” The brunet demands.

“I thought it was clear how I feel and you were still thinking about all this or something,” Phil shrugs. “You’re really bad at taking hints.”

“Your hints are shit, that’s not my fault,” Dan shrugs a shoulder, a smile tugs at his lips.

“Oh, shut up and kiss me again,” Phil smirks, pulling Dan back to himself. Dan’s not one to pass such an inviting suggestion.

The pale moonlight and the warm glow of the lanterns illuminate the two teens. Late autumn wind makes them shiver as it gusts over them, icy cold. An owl hoots in the distance, leaves whisper complaints and promises. The boys hardly care about any of it; they’re too lost in the magic of first love.


End file.
